Long Island's "blizzard baby" has arrived -- in dramatic fashion. Hunkered down in her Selden home during the blizzard, Nichole Perretta, 28, woke suddenly with contractions at 5:45 a.m. Saturday. "I had a feeling it was coming," said Perretta, a student-teacher at Stagecoach Elementary School. The delivery had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Perretta roused her husband and told him about the change...

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Hunkered down in her Selden home during the blizzard, Nichole Perretta, 28, woke suddenly with contractions at 5:45 a.m. Saturday.

"I had a feeling it was coming," said Perretta, a student-teacher at Stagecoach Elementary School.

The delivery had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Perretta roused her husband and told him about the change of plans. He'd need to rush her to the hospital right away.

Hurrying outside, Scott Perretta, 32, was stunned to find the driveway -- and the family car -- buried under more than 2 feet of snow.

When the snowblower failed, he turned to shoveling, but quickly realized the chore was taking too long.

"We need to get out of here," Nichole Perretta recalled telling her husband. "I was starting to panic."

The couple called 911. An ambulance and a fire department crew were dispatched, but both emergency vehicles wound up getting stuck in thick snow.

Brookhaven Town road crews were summoned to the area to clear several streets, allowing the ambulance to make it to the house.

The expectant mother headed to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, where her two other children were born. When the ambulance encountered another roadblock -- abandoned vehicles and drifts -- snowplows stepped in to "clear a path," Nichole Perretta said.

She made it to St. Charles in time, but the doctor was late because of his own snow-related traffic woes.

With the help of nurses, the delivery began. Just as the baby crowned, the doctor stepped in to finish the job.

The Perrettas' daughter, Harper, was born at 11:35 a.m., weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces. Both mother and daughter were doing well Saturday night.

"It's nice to have another young one," the relieved father said. "It's still kind of new. It's hitting me all at once."

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